The clank had been chiding about the bad language, but in the quiet after William's words there's a faint but distinct crackle of static.

Jake let the others talk about various things. The huckster moves a little ways away from everyone and took a seat on a overturned bucket. He slowly begins looking over the book that he'd found. His eyes and hands lightly dancing over the cover and spin before leafing through the pages.

OOC: Going to go with my hunch - looking for significant events to do with the book and what's happening in the town at present.
11:01, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 6,4 using 1d10,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,4. Hunch.

Adrian Vega, dressed in the vestments of the Harbinger and with its two scythe-tipped guns holstered, walked slowly into the church building. Part of his slow gait came from hesitance. The recent revelations about his condition made him wary to churches and church folks and he didn't want to spend any more time within this establishment than he needed to. As a member of the Lady Luck Society, Adrian had a little knowledge about his sort of condition and the way it was viewed by the God fearing citizens of the world. And what they could do to him if they were of a mind. He had nothing against them, but was pretty sure they wouldn't see him the same way.

The other part of his gait came from a certain swagger he had picked up ever since donning the Harbinger's cape and cowl, and holstering its weapons. He had always liked guns, but he felt a special connection with these and felt almost like by using them in Blackthorn's defense he could somehow redeem himself. The huckster didn't feel much guilt over the things he'd done in his life, but in his awareness of his state of death he seemed to feel a constant need for redemption.

"Glad to see you're alright, Marshal," he said. The weapon the Marshal had given him earlier, he set down beside the town's lawman. "Sorry I done ran away with your gun. Things got crazy back there. It's good to see you too, Alouette. Nice work with that thing out there." Too casually, he stepped just out of the door of the church building, as if that made a difference. Somehow it did. Somehow, it made him feel safer.

Then he caught wind of the conversation between Gus, William and Danny. He listened, and let it play on for some time before interjecting. "We all just stood together on this thing here, so how about we all just calm down a quick minute and save this shit for another time."

---

11:07, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 2,5 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,5. Persuasion.

In the background, Darla hugs Camilla, tight, and whispers something in her ear, throwing a glance or two toward William.
Camilla has a doubting look on her face, but nods, eventually.



William raises an eyebrow, his eyes never leaving Gus.
"Your move, snake."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:23, Mon 22 Oct 2012.

some mood music for the vision

Evans takes the pistol, and shrugs. "It would have been of precious little use to me in my weakened state anyway." He says, holstering it. "Though I am glad to have it back." he follows Adrian toward the gathering trouble, frowning.

Gus glares at William. "Tough talk for the coward I saw tryin' to hide behind that metal coat rack there a few hours ago." he says. "And yer lookin' remarkably healthsome for someone who was supposed ta have been scalped by the Injuns. Mighty healthsome indeed. Why, how do we know you weren't workin' with 'em?"



"Do you really wanna stick up for this son of a bitch?" Gus shoots back. "I do seem to recall that last time he crossed our paths, he was tryin' to shoot you. Ain't he pals with that Creole fucker that plugged you in the back and left you for dead? And now he's tryin' to step between me and the Mick. That Mick's a cattle rustler and a cold-blooded killer, Adrian. He shot Slim Jenkins, who ain't never done nothin' to nobody. Then he went apeshit and tried to fry half the townsfolk earlier today. Killed three people. How many more we gonna let him get away with killin' afore we end it?"

As he speaks, the air fills with the buzz of a rattler's tail.



"If I may interject..." Evans says, stepping up to the group. "This is not the time for this. Tensions are running high, and none of us here can be called innocent of any wrongdoing. Not you, not the boy, not even myself. But if we are going to let recriminations fly and tempers run wild, right on the very doorstep of the house of God, then might I suggest that the one without any blood on their hands be the first to cast stones?"

Gus snarls at him, but though his snake-eyes narrow, he seems to be visibly restraining himself.

"Thank you. Now, Mr. Pierce," The marshal says, this time looking squarely at William, "dumping kerosene on an open flame is not how you extinguish it. You might wish to remember that you are on probation in my town, released on bail only because we have larger issues at hand to deal with. That state of blessed freedom is currently in jeopardy."

"Marshal..." Father O'Rourke says, joining the group around the threshold. "This man just single-handedly saved us all from an unholy abomination of twisted flesh and death."

"...I helped some..." Danny whines, but shuts up at the withering glares from just about everyone else.

"*ahem* As I was saying, this man has just done this town a tremendous deed, and you should be congratulating him, not excoriating him."

((OOC: And now I pause to let anyone else who wants to get a word in...))

William keeps watching Gus.
Soonet or later we'll face off each other. Maybe we should get this over with...

"Just trying to help,  Father. No need to congratulate me. And Marshal,  I was just trying to defuse the situation here. He was talking down to my friend.  So I just gave him a fair warning of the consequences. Glad that it helped.”

His eyes clearly convey the message that this isn't ober.

"Done a bit of marshaling myself,  Marshal. Guess he smells that."

"Danny Albatross did not cause death of mortals, Gus Shaw: John John Smith, Shepherd and self fixed them: they are in the Town Hall now."

Alouette, who then pattered off with a faint "okay!" about mid-point in Evans' speech, returns with a couple of stray roof tiles.

The automaton halts, looks from Gus to William, then back at Gus, then steps up to the latter and sort of mostly drops the tiles at him like someone who's heard of casting stones in malice but hasn't quite grasped the principle.

"Unable to locate stones," it chirps at Evans.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:15, Tue 23 Oct 2012.

Adrian's voice was filled with the calm of the grave, and he spoke not in anger but simply in fact. "Gus, I was just trying to calm shit down. I ain't forgotten that I owe you one, and I got your back," he said, gesturing to Pierce offhandedly, "especially when it comes to incinerating pieces of shit like that."

Ah. The man without a heartbeat. Another man, actually.
The amount of people who wouldn't stay down for good was suprising. He'd had heard rumors about these things, before, but this cursed town was like a honeypot for flies. Dead flies.

"Afraid of fire, are you? Don't play with matches, then." he retorts.

Two girls flank William, suddenly, both scantily clad.

"Oh, sugar... don't you go and do something stupid when we were all... soo... nice... a minute... ago..." one of them says in a husky voice, batting her eyes toward Adrian.

"Yes...", the other chimes in but leaning forward and presenting her ample cleavage to Gus, "why don't you try and relax a little..."


19:19, Today: Vampire Dance Hall Girl rolled 2,4 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,4. Darla, assisting.
19:19, Today: Vampire Dance Hall Girl rolled 4 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4. Camilla, Persuasion.

"Howdy, Minus Clothes Woman!" Alouette greets Darla, not having encountered her before.

"Somebody should write that down and put it in a dime novel," he said, then watching with idle curiosity as the two women flanked his would-be murderer.

He chuckled dryly at the mechanical marvel's chirpy greeting for the scantily clad woman. Back in his living days, which seemed not so long ago, the display of such a fine bosom might have stirred some type of desire within him. Probably on account of being dead, but that didn't really seem to be much of a motivation anymore. Now that he was free of it, in retrospect it seemed that such a paralyzing appetite for temptations of the flesh was indeed a weakness. So easily he had been exploited so many times on account of his susceptibility to that very same bait that was being offered now so freely. So powerful was the call of that pleasure to a man that even devoid of such inclinations as he was at present, he yet almost wished that he still wanted it. And if that wasn't foolish, he didn't very well know what was.

"Well you're doing a damn poor job of it." Evans says. "That Danial O'Conner there is not in a cell is a representation of just how troublesome our situation is. I will only warn you once more...stop making the situation worse. Or by heaven I will stick you both in the vault in the Mining Affairs Office and let you shoot it out until only one walks out. Are we clear?"

Gus locks his serpent eyes on William. "The only thing I'm smellin' off you is blood and death, hombre, and I'll be goddamned before I let you do any killin' here. This is my town, shit-for-brains."

"Mr. Shaw." Evans says, a warning note creeping into his voice. "I can handle this.

"I don't take orders from you." Gus responds, not taking his eyes off William.

"Can you at least take suggestions? Save this for latter..." Evans says, but he trails off as the girls arrive and start trying to woo the two local boys.

"Aw, shucks!" Gus says with a grin as the two women. "I reckon we don't need to do this right now, girls..."

"Step away! Everyone!" Evans shouts. He's holding what looks like a sharpened chair leg, brandishing it like a knife. And he's pointing it at Darla. "Mr. Peirce, if you value your life, I must insist that you remain absolutely still!"

((OOC: Gus rolls to resist: 23:05, Today: Gus Shaw rolled -1,-1 using d8-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1. Resisting Persuasion. Yeah, that's a critical fail.

Evans, on the other hand, has faced these girls before, and knows what they are.))

The clank, recognising at least one instance of threatening behaviour, endeavours to get in everyone's way.

"Cease!"

"It's okay, Alouette." William slowly raises his left hand and focuses now on the marshal. His right hand is still near the shiny gun in his holster.


"No need for that, Marshal. The girls are with me. And seeing as we're all good friends now again, there's no need to escalate this further.
Father O'Rourke will back me up on this.
Won't you, father?"

"Yes, we're good girls now. Promised the ranger."

"No townsfolk. But Comanche are fair game she said."

"Especially that annoying immortal one. He got away real fast..."

Seeing the Marshal go into a defensive mode, Adrian leaned casually against the wall, still wreathed in the vestments of the Harbinger. He very slowly and obviously drew those one of the two scythe tipped weapons, though held it downwards, aiming it at no one in particular. To be honest, he didn't really know who the threat was at the moment.

"What seems to be the matter, Marshal?" he asked, in the languid, lazy way of speaking that he had sort of always had. It had been bad, here, though living in New Orleans certainly hadn't helped.

In reply to The Stray (msg # 104):

Jake's shoulders slumped, as though he were the baseball player who just swung at the last pitch of the game, missed and lost his team the game. His eyes look at the book in his hands but don't seem to be focusing on anything. The huckster wasn't sure if he should laugh or cry about what was going on, so his body did both.

"Vampires, Mr. Vega." Evans replies. "The same vampires who lured poor Mr. Micklethwait in and bit him, causing him to rise again. The same that infected the Jellicle gang, and may have infected Mr. Cantrell, Miss Hawkins, and poor deputy Charging Bear. The same vampires I now see trying to spread their taint around here."

He glares at William. "And if they are with you, That makes you suspect, as well. We figured that the vampire girls at the Oriental may have had a male accomplice we were never able to catch...well, it seems that accomplice has handily revealed himself!"

He pulls a strange device with his free hand, a red box filled with dials and knobs, with some sort of indicator on the top. He fumbles with it for a moment, and an arc of electricity sparks along the metal ring at the top. Those around the device can feel the hair on their arms rise from the ambient static.



Evans spares a glance at the readout on the dials, and nods once, grimly. "I thought so." He looks at Gus. "Mr. Shaw, I know you won't take orders from me, but please consider this - What we have here is a unique opportunity to end one of our supernatural menaces. It appears Mr. Pierce here has a similar Aetheric Resonance to the two parasites currently clinging to him. I would not be surprised if he were the parent source of those resonances."

"Huh?"

"Mr. Pierce here is a vampire, Mr. Shaw. A bloodsucking scourge on Blackthorn. If you still wish to pursue an altercation with him, I will not hinder you. Indeed," He returns his glare to William, "I will assist."

"You mean I can kill 'em without you gettin' in my face about it?" Gus says, and evil grin spreading across his face as he raises the nozzle of the flamethrower.

"That is precisely what I mean." He looks at Alouette. "Please stand aside, Deputy Alouette. We have monsters to slay."

And right then, Jake begins his laughing sob...

((OOC: Congrats, William. You just tripped right over Evans' Evil Deeds Dementia...William has a knack for saying just the wrong thing to NPCs, doesn't he?

Evans activates his Detect Arcana power to confirm his suspicions.

11:42, Today: The Amazing Evans rolled 5,11 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,(6+5)11. Weird Science!))

The clank takes up a stance very reminiscent of Wildcat and folds its arms, though it does seem to be protecting the Marshal from the others more than the other way about.

"Pierce William Pierce is a good vampire, Ambrose - he has not harmed a mortal, and is taking care of some lost souls...he went out of the town with Not Suspicious Man who was also a vampire, but came back after he stabbed a Pure Blooded Comanche to go to church and repent, which is also a Good Thing. Y'all should go to church more often, and do listening, especially Gus Shaw - he is a Bad Man."

There's a short, ticking pause. "Y'all can shoot Gus Shaw to be minus violence if desired: it will not harm him or make him dangerous with minus-humanity hunger."

It looks over at Jake. "Is Bitter Waters broken?"

"No more than usual." James muttered as his eyes shift to the others.

"Interesting. It's true, I've been hunted by the law before, but only for things I'd done. Never for what I am."
William replies, surveying the men before him.

That man with the scythed pistols... he didn't have them before, probably put them on to scare away them indians. Neat trick, but the added weight would be taking their toll on his accuracy. The marshal... he seemed to be in bad shape. The snake, though, he was the dangerous one and the first he should take down. If he had to.

"I've been in town a couple of hours, marshal. Got turned into what I am now by Marina. The girls belonged to her, but have been abandoned by their mistress. Now they're helping me to find her, so that I can end her. The ranger girl will back me up on this, I'm sure.

So you want to kill me for having been killed? Or how do you plan on justifying this?"

Adrian didn't quite know how to feel about the person he just learned was a vampire. On the one hand, he had in cold blood tried to murder Adrian earlier without cause or conflict. On the other hand, Adrian had already been dead at that point, so was it really a murder? It was an odd question. It still felt like it though. At the time, Adrian himself hadn't known he was already dead. Even the man that killed him had barely known it, and the man that walked into the door and pulled a gun and shot him without reason - there's no way he coulda known it.

It was the intent that counted. The man had tried to murder him, and for all the shooter knew, he coulda very well been alive. That was as good as murder.

"Likely story. All we know is that you walked me into a room, and despite having not known me, despite having no conflict with me, you shot me - you tried to murder a lawfully ordained deputy of Blackthorn while he was attempting to apprehend a criminal. You're a ruthless killer, proven by your own actions - and now besides a cold blooded murderer, we know you're a fuckin' vampire to boot."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:09, Fri 26 Oct 2012.

"What you are is a danger to ever single person in Blackthorn who still breathes." Evans says evenly. "Your kind is a plague. You vampires have committed at least four murders in town - plus you own, if what you say is true - and most of those have risen as more murderous monsters shortly thereafter. I don't particularly care to see this infection spread any further. Now, I can believe you when you say that you'd be willing to limit your murders to the Comanches, but that simply leaves us with the potential for Comanche vampires, who will be no less dangerous than white ones."



"That is an excellent point!" Evans nods. "Even if I were willing to consider letting you run around, you've already proven your ill-intent!"

"Now, wait just a minute!" Danny says, springing up to William's side. "You're goning to blame him fer things he done, when ye have a monster like Gus Fuckin' Shaw standin' at ye side!? William's ten times the man he is! he's just saved your worthless bloody town from that giant dead thing! Maybe he shoulda just stood aside, if this is how ye reward him!"

Father O'Rourke also takes a stance. he stands in front of William. "We all have done things we are not proud of in our lives...I know that more than most. And I can vouch for Mr. Pierce, who came to me this very evening for holy confession. He is right with God, and is trying, trying so hard, to change his ways, to atone for finding himself condemned to the curse of living death. Would you throw his salvation away?"

"Step out o' the way, preacher man." Gus rumbles. "We've given those there too many damn chances, and it's bitten us every time. You all wanna point fingers at me? I ain't done nothin' 'cept work my ass off, bleed and sweat and yes, even kill, for this town, while you ain't done shit but try to destroy it!"

"Did done you murder the Comanche?" Alouette asks William sternly.

To Adrian, it explains: "Number Seven Man had a recognition error and thought you were undead, not differently alive - y'all have to do 'discreet' about that: Pierce William Pierce went to remove mortal in danger, but all the people started shooting."

Then lastly to Gus: "The Shepherd has saved many people, including women and men injured by Danny Albatross' bird, which was angered by the Mayor who is a witch, and Carl, who had somewhere else venom in and was leaking lots. You killed Danny Albatross twice, making him minus minus humanity, and shot self whilst defending a mortal...Blackthorn, Texas, and also the world would done be in much danger if it was minus angels now. Repent."